The state Connector Board on Thursday unanimously approved a proposed joint insurance venture between Caritas Christi Health Care and the But Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, who is charged with overseeing the Catholic-ness of the Catholic hospital network, issued a cautionary statement that night:
"While I appreciate the opportunity given to Caritas Christi to serve the poor through this agreement, I wish to reaffirm that this agreement can only be realized if the moral obligations for Catholic hospitals as articulated in the Ethical and Religious Directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are fulfilled at all times and in all cases. In order to assure me that this agreement will provide for the integrity of the Catholic identity and practices of Caritas Christi Health Care System, I have asked the National Catholic
At issue are rules set forward by the US bishops that declare "Catholic health care organizations are not permitted to engage in immediate material cooperation in actions that are intrinsically immoral, such as abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and direct sterilization." The joint venture will cover such services, but Caritas will not provide them; whether Caritas's role in the venture constitutes "immediate material cooperation" is the subject of debate.
A number of moral theologians contacted by the Globe, as well as the president of the Catholic Health Association, said they do not believe the venture violates Catholic teaching, but some antiabortion activists are leery.
Their concerns were heightened when state officials said the venture's participants would give patients a phone number to call to get any procedure needed and would even provide a ride to a hospital that would perform the procedure not done by a Catholic hospital.
The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts blasted Caritas, calling the venture "a significant defeat for the pro-life movement, inflicted not by secular society, but by the Catholic Church in Boston."
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(Source: BP)